St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-02-12
SELOUS, THE HUNTER.
1shs Lie and Achievements In the Wflder.
ness OF south Africa

Hn s-ate and Achievements In the Wilder.
ness OF south Africa.
Nowand then n man is seen in a conn
paratirely humble position whose fame
Is almost world wide. Such a m:n is
MIR. +. c. Selous. Those who have
read any thing of South Africa have
heard of Mr.. Selous. the great hunter.
lie figures in probably every book that
mas been written on South Africa for
the past fifteen years. He is the most
noted of African hunters, and has writ
ten book on his wanderings i'm Africa
that is regarded as guide to sport in
that part of the world
Selons rarely gets nearer to the coast
than klerksdorp in the Transvaal. and
his hunting grounds are two months
travel north of that little town. He is
always accompanied by several negro
servants. who drive his two great OK
wagons and perform the usual duties
OF the camp. About once a year
Selous turns up i'll klerksdorp with
his two wagons filed with ivory. hides,
horns. hunting trophies and otter
'''' ~ ShsSe. llt IL IL
hunter. Like Daniel Boone. he loves
nothing SD much Is to leave civilization
hundreds of miles behind him. He
btiries himself in the great wilderness
south of the ZambcSi. where native
tribes are few and feeble and game
is marrclcusly plentiful. There he
wandcrs ut will shooting elephants,
antelopes, bGtfaloes and other big
game. He carries with him a supply
OF groceries. but lives largely on alc
game he Kills. When he has loaded his
wagons he returns to the Transvaal
trading post. where he sells the f,Hiis
of his rifle sometimes for several thou
sands Of dollars. He loads up with goods
to barter among the natives, and is off
again to the wilderness As soon as
possible.
Selcus has had many adventures. some
of which We're of 4 very unpleasant char
acter. In 1872 he wandered one day
away from hk wagons. and was unable
10 find them again. He was not i'm the
game country, but was in the midst If
tracklcss and sun-parched wilderness,
through which he wandered for four
days without a particle of food or drink.
On one of his cheeks is a deep scar.
where wounded buffalo once tore the
flesh with one of its horns. He hunts
over very wide range of country. and
now and then appears among tribes he
has never visited before. Sometimes
the natives are not very hospitablc. but
Selous has plenty of tact and makes
friends wherever his wanderings take
him. lie Bengula, the powerful King
of the Matabeti, always permits Selors
to pass through his country on his hUnt-
ing tours. though he often denies the
requests of other white men. ''Sclous."
said the savage monarch to Montagu
Kerr, is a young lion"
Geographers the world over know o.
SaloIS. for he is almost rs fond Of ex-
plorations as he is of hunting, and, what |
is better, he can accurately describe ,
what he sees, and can make a good |
map of any region he visits. Once in a
while one will see i'm some geographical |
periodical map of some river that |
Selous has traced from its source 10 It's |
mouth. 1t is always an afiluent of the /
Limbafo or Zambcsi rivers or of their |
larger tributaries. In this way he has
largely extended his fame, for he has |
made himself interesting not only TO
lovers of adventure and field sports, |
but also to men of.science. Selous is =
humble hunter and explorer, but there
is hardly white man in South Africa
who would not feel a little pang if any
disaster hefcll him. He would be |
mourned. too. by many thousands of
poor black people, and many friends he
never saw in Europe or America would
speak Of him in words of kind epprV cia-
tion.-N T. San.